Minutes of Senate Steering Committee
March 21, 2019
 3:30 p.m.
Lowder Hall 302
Present:   Michael Baginski (Chair), Beverly Marshall (Secretary), Nedret Billor (Chair-Elect), Dan Svyantek (Immediate-Past Chair), Emmett Winn (Associate Provost), Robert (Bob) Norton, Jared Russell, and Jung Won Hur
Absent: Adrienne Wilson (Secretary-Elect) and Michael Tillson

Chairman Baginski called the meeting to order at 3:30 pm. The committee was provided with an agenda via email prior to the meeting.
Agenda items:

• The minutes from the Steering meeting on February 28, 2019 were approved by unanimous consent.
• Michael Baginski reminded the committee of the upcoming General Faculty meeting and discussed preparation for the meeting and potential crowd.
• Michael Baginski discussed plans following the General Faculty meeting and the announcement of election results.
• There were not sufficient votes to pass a handbook amendment regarding meetings at the February 27 Senate meeting. Since this amendment seemed to have strong support by the Senators, we discussed reintroducing this amendment at the April meeting by bringing a motion to the floor. The second issue was making sure there was good attendance at the April meeting.  Beverly Marshall indicated that she follows up on any repeated absences.  The issue is that Senators are not getting substitutes that could vote in their absence. Provost Hardgrave indicated that he would reach out to Dean’s to remind departmental representatives to send substitutes if they cannot attend.
• Assuming the elimination of the June meeting is approved, there are two Senate meetings remaining. The committee discussed plans for these upcoming meetings in April and May. Beverly Marshall indicated that she would present an annual report as Faculty Athletics Representative at the April Senate meeting.
• In the discussion of remaining items that the officers and Steering had hoped to address this year, the topic of evaluation of service in Faculty Annual Reports came up. The main issue is making sure that service is rewarded and not a burden born by a relatively few faculty members. Beverly Marshall mentioned that she would ask committee chairs to provide some general time commitment metrics both in meetings and outside preparation for meetings, which might be useful in informing department heads in the evaluation of Senate and University Committee service. 

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 PM.
Prepared by:  Beverly B. Marshall, Secretary, AU Senate